It would have been faster to walk the railway line to Kithaella, the starting point of the Ella rock walk. We hung around the Ella train station for an hour, 50 mins after the designated departure time, just to take the red rattler to the next stop on the Colombo line. I amused myself by talking to the locals and the tourists that were waiting for the blue Xpress train.

We'd been warned not accept any offers of a guide once we arrived at Kithaella, however we fell straight into the clutches of a local shyster masquerading as a guide/farmer. He told us not to go up the regular path as it would take too long and he knew a short cut. DOH! We knew straight away of his ploy but he was harder than a leech to shake off. Ok mate, you can walk ahead of us, but we're not giving you any money. He got us completely bamboozled, so we were not able to find the correct path. Anyway, it was an adventure and we got to walk through some chest high wild lemon grass paddocks that in hindsight were probably home to the local cobra population.